What Lies Behind the Poker Face
by Unrequited-Words
Summary: For everyone else, Lucy was that ex-top model who tried to commit suicide, an outcast of society. For Natsu, she was just a hurt girl who just needed a friend. A/U
1. Prologue

_So as you all see, I have decided to edit my version of __**What Lies Behind the Pokerface. **__The chappy needs some major clean up, which I think I managed to do…?_

_I hate myself for always writing new stories when I already have a ton left to update and finish… . But I can't help it! Whenever a good idea comes to mind, I just HAVE to write it… grrrrrrrrr… But here's another one of my stories, hope you enjoy!_

(^.^) /)

. . . . X . . . .

* * *

_Natsu's P.O.V._

. . . . . . . .

University has always been a great place for overgrown teenagers.

Natsu leaned back in his chair, enjoying the moment, "Man, I'm so glad I chose Fairy Tail over Blue Pegasus!"

Gray smirked, leaning closer to his rival, "You always say that."

"It's the truth, where else do you get so much freedom?"

Natsu grinned and leaned back in his chair and placed his legs messily on the table. This earned a small chorus of giggles from his childhood friend Lisanna. She ruffled his spikey red hair gently with a cheery smile on.

"Good morning Natsu-kun! Getting comfortable again?" Lisanna chirped. It took only a glance to tell that she was in a good mood. His eyes landed on the thick stack of folders she held tightly with her right arm. Lisanna was secretary of the student council, so she was always holding a packet of some sort. It struck Natsu that her papers seemed to be two times thicker than the usual amount.

Natsu set his feet down on the ground, "Hey Lisanna!" he returned her greeting with equal enthusiasm, "What's with the huge stack of papers you got there?"

The blue eyed girl blinked twice, as if surprised, "Didn't I already tell you, Natsu? We're going to have a new-"

Before Natsu could hear the rest of what Lisanna had to say, a loud thunk interrupted her mid-sentence. All heads turned curiously to the rude noise. Lo' and behold, Master Makarov stood triumphantly at the door. Natsu bubbled with amusement—finally.

Although he looked older than eighty, Master Makarov had the spirit of a freshman in high school. For some reason unknown to the human race, he never responded to his students if they called him anything other than "Master Makarov". It was really weird at first, but they got used to it (kinda). He had many other weird antics, which included making dramatic entrances even if it was seven in the morning.

"Oh, Master Makarov," Natsu spoke nonchalantly—already immune to the sparkles his college professor gave off.

Gray twirled a pencil with his fingers, eyeing the clock, "Fifteen minutes late on the dot, as usual."

The old man was always _exactly _fifteen minutes late.

Natsu turned around to face Lisanna, who sat right next to him. He tilted his head slightly to the right, what was she about to say?

A secretive smile cracked from her lips. Her eyes shone as brightly as a six year old child's. She seemed to be saying, _You'll see soon._

Now, Natsu was even more confused. Why couldn't people just be straightforward?

Master Makarov skipped to his desk, and with Mirajane's help, stood on top of it. He pointed his finger at his students with an energetic look.

"Children," he boomed. It was hard to believe an old man like him could have such a loud voice, "We have a new student transferring from Blue Pegasus."

Startled voices filled the classroom. Even if Natsu wasn't the smartest guy out there, something told him that this was the thing Lisanna was talking about.

Gray lightly elbowed Natsu to get his attention. He looked at Natsu with questioning eyes, "It's not like we're in high school anymore, so why a transfer?"

That was a question Natsu couldn't answer, so he just shrugged, "How should I know?"

Lisanna bent down and stuck her head playfully next to his and Gray's, "You'll see why as soon as she comes in."

"… And here she is!" Master Makarov announced as if on cue. He flapped his hand around as if telling someone to come in.

All heads turned toward the door. Natsu stared at the door until a blonde haired girl took a tentative step in.

Then they saw her. Nearly all mouths dropped.

It.

Was.

Lucy.

Heartfilia.

Natsu was seemingly unaffected by the eruptions around him, he looked at the girl with blank eyes. She had a good figure and strangely, a lonely expression in her eyes. But what really caught his attention were the white bandages wrapped around her arms and neck. She wore a white, short sleeved hoodie which showed that she was obviously wasn't trying to hide anything.

But where had he seen that girl before? _I'm sure I had seen her somewhere before… _he mused to himself, but failing to remember when.

"Damn…" Gray breathed, his eyes wide with astonishment. Natsu narrowed his eyes, did Gray know? Or was he just taken aback by her somewhat mummified appearance?

"Now do you see why we have a transfer? It's Lucy Heartfilia!" Lisanna whispered urgently.

Natsu raised an eyebrow, "Is she famous or something?" he asked cluelessly.

Lisanna gave him a bewildered look, as if she couldn't believe him. She looked at the new girl nervously and started to twirl her hair short her with her index finger. Natsu knew this habit well. Whenever his childhood friends was uneasy or nervous, she would start to twirl her hair.

Lisanna leaned closer to Natsu's ear and cupped her hands around her mouth so no one could see her lips.

Natsu nearly fell out of his chair after listening to her answer. Suddenly, he remembered seeing her face on a tabloid at the supermarket.

"Lucy Heartfilia is a really popular model. At least, she WAS one. Last month, she had tried to commit suicide!"

. . . . X . . . .

* * *

_As many of you can see, I just edited my entire first chapter. I felt like it was too amateurish (not that my writing is any more professional now, lol). I am going to try and keep the character's nature as close to the original and as human as possible. Of course, Lucy is going to be a little OOC. But her original personality will be preserved._

_Well… that's all I have time for today. I know this is gonna be a pretty dramatic series that I am gonna write, it's going to be kind of hard for me to write… I might just cry over my keyboard TT^TT._

_**~Unrequited-Words**_


	2. New Friends, Old Friends

**_Ello my readers! Yesh Yesh, I know you guys were waiting a loooooooooooooooong time, but messed up stuff happens in life that you can't always help but get tangled in. My CPU hardrive thing and fan on my computer finally crashed on me and I had to send my computer in, leaving me without access to my stories for a week… so… yeah… I apologize for any errors in the writing, I wanted to get this uploaded ASAP _**

**_Enjoy! I don't own Fairy Tail!_**

(^.^)/)

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* * *

_Lucy's P.O.V._

_. . . . . . . ._

She took a tentative step into the classroom and immediately regretted it.

Almost immediately the classroom broke into almost inaudible whispers, but Lucy could hear them. When you've worked in the industry for too long, you either gain strength or become stripped of it. Lucy wasn't sure which she got, but either way, you gain the ability to pick up on things people don't want you to see.

She walked calmly up to the front of the classroom, next that teacher's desk. Lucy wasn't entirely surprised.

She had kind of expected this kind of reaction.

But that didn't mean she would like it.

The teacher, who the other students seemed to call "Master Makarov", was standing on top of his desk for some reason. He seemed more like a kid than an elderly, wise senior.

"Children," Master Makarov began the introductions, "This is our new student, Lucy Heartfilia. As many of you know, Lucy has gone through some hard times, and I want you all to do the best you can to help her!" Master Makarov eyed all his students as he said that, as if to engrave those words on their foreheads.

Her fingers curled tightly around her schoolbag, doing her best not to appear unnerved. Although he probably meant no malice, he didn't have to say it like that. Everyone already knew about that _incident_, he didn't have to reopen old news like that.

Lucy decided that she didn't like Fairy Tail University.

Then again, anywhere other than Blue Pegasus was at least tolerable.

Lucy just stared ahead of her, at the rest of the classroom. She could tell that her existence in the classroom caused them to feel uncomfortable. She didn't blame them, how were they supposed to treat the girl who had been involved in the biggest scandal since tabloids were invented?

The blonde looked around at her new classmates for first period. None of them met her gaze without immediately looking away.

Except for one boy.

It was strange how she felt unnerved by his ignorance. And at the same time, she felt a wave of relief fall upon her.

At least someone didn't seem to mind her presence.

He looked at her with wide golden colored eyes, as if he were trying to figure out something. Lucy stared at him directly for a few seconds, waiting for him to flinch away. He held his gaze without seeming to notice her attempt at intimidating him.

She held her gaze for a few moments, and then looked away. She didn't know what to make of it all, he was weird.

Nobody else seemed to notice their few seconds of silent interaction.

Lucy turned toward the class, remembering that she was supposed to give a self-introduction. She took a deep breath to loosen her joints which felt like they had been wired together.

_Here we go._

. . . . . . . .

* * *

_Nats's P.O.V._

When the new girl tried to stare him down, he saw her eyes clearly for the first time.

He took note of the rich brown color and how they swarmed with emotion. What was that saying again? Ah, right, eyes are the door to a person's soul… or something like that. Yeah, he could say that for Lucy. Her effort to appear menacing was pretty bad. It was like a thin coating of plastic wrap. Everything else, the fear and apprehension she felt, stood out as clearly as if he was looking through glass.

Natsu leaned forward, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. For some reason, he couldn't look away from her.

Or rather, he just couldn't ignore her when she looked so… lonely.

_And why would anyone like her try to commit suicide? _Natsu pondered to himself.

_After all, she's pretty and seems like a nice girl. Everyone should like her._

_Right?_

. . . . . . . .

* * *

_Lucy's P.O.V._

Her dark brown eyes looked up toward the reddening sky. _Ah, _she thought to herself_, classes are finally over. _She felt unusually tired for having slept ten hours the night before. Then again, who wouldn't be worn out on their first day back in civilization after two months of countless doctor appointments?

_Might as well find where the dormitories are now, _Lucy decided after realizing she still hadn't figured out where her room was or who her roommate was yet. Her transfer to Fairy Tail had been messily put together by her manager and—

"Hey."

Lucy turned around, slightly startled by the interruption in her train of thought. She didn't expect anyone to talk to her now that she wasn't exactly in the most respectable part of society . But all disbelief on her part was wiped away after she saw that it was the same red-headed, golden eyed boy from before—the one who wouldn't look away from her.

God, she should of known.

Maybe he used to be one of her faithful stalkers.

Lucy quickly dismissed the thought. Anyone in their right mind wouldn't want anything to do with her after that incident.

"You dropped this," he handed her the brochure that the school office had given her. There was a map for getting around the school campus included in its pages. She reached out with her bandaged arms and took it from his hands gratefully, "Thank you," she said to him appreciatively before attempting to walk away.

"Wait! Lucy-chan!" he took a few quick paced steps to catch up to her. The shock of his over familiarity was enough to make her stop dead in her tracks, but apparently, he thought she would try to escape. So he made the fatal mistake of grabbing her sensitive arms.

Huge mistake.

Really bad mistake.

It was as if she had been touched by a taser. You would think that all pain would have been long gone after months of rehabilitation. Rather than physical hurt, it was more of a psychological pain. Because under those perfect white bandages were ugly scars she didn't want anyone to see or uncover.

They reminded her of her failures as a friend, lover, and model.

But instead of collapsing like the incompetent failure she was, Lucy glared at her intruder with all the ferocity she could muster.

"Sir, I don't know your name nor who you are, but please remove your hands from me," she snapped, whisking her arm out of his weakened grip and proceeded to storm away.

Finally realizing his slipup, the red-head began to panic, "A-Ah! Wait! I mean, I'm sorry! I mean—" He ran up in front of her, blocking her path. He had a sheepish smile on, at least he knew he was an idiot.

Although pissed and seriously on the verge of kicking him in the balls, Lucy couldn't bring herself to blame him. He obviously didn't mean any harm to her, and he DID return her map. Maybe she should take a moment to listen to whatever he had to say.

He looked so relieved after she gave him the cue to talk that Lucy almost laughed.

Almost.

"You see, Lisanna wanted me to... No wait, Lisanna is my friend and she's part of the—wait that isn't important. Actually, Master Makarov gave my friend this thing to give to me about your dorm, not that I really should—"

Pausing, he noticed her bewildered expression. That was the most confusing sentence Lucy had ever heard since she started learning Spanish. It didn't take long for Lucy to figure out that he was a total scatter-brain.

But from what she could decipher, the guy did have SOMETHING he needed to say, so she decided to lend a hand.

"Before all that, let's start with introductions," she held out a hand, "As you know, I am Lucy."

Grinning with the power to put the sun to shame, he returned the handshake, "I'm Natsu Dragneel. Nice to meet you."

A pregnant silence followed his greeting, so Lucy cleared her throat uncomfortably, "What were you about to tell me Natsu-san? Start from the beginning and please refrain from over complicating things."

Somehow, this "Natsu" really did seem to forget the point to this conversation for a few seconds. He brightened immediately after being reminded, "Oh right! So basically, I'm supposed to help you find your room."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, "And how are you supposed to help me? You're… well, a GUY."

Natsu gave her an _Are you serious _look that she knew all too well. Lucy wondered if she should feel insulted when HE was obviously the one with the lesser IQ between them. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but her stomach fell ever so slightly.

This couldn't be good.

"Didn't you know? The dorms here are co-ed." he pointed to a very thin and tiny line of text on the bottom left-hand corner of the brochure that Lucy deemed unreadable.

Natsu continued explaining his situation, "You see, my friend, Lisanna, is actually your roommate. But see, she's kind of busy with student council stuff right now. I live next door to you guys with this idiot named Gray, but he didn't get the memo so I'm here to guide you…"

Natsu continued to ramble on, but Lucy had stopped listening a long time ago. If she were old Lucy, she may have started screaming right at that moment. But she wasn't her old happy-go-lucky self anymore. Nonetheless, the girl still froze.

Co-ed dorms.

No.

Fucking.

Way.

. . . . . . . .

* * *

_Natsu's P.O.V._

Lucy had gotten very quiet, like dead quiet.

But for a person who had just tried to commit suicide, she was pretty sharp. Lucy, from what he could tell, was a perfectly normal and not a deranged person. Sure, she got angry at him for grabbing her , but that was to be expected right?

He shifted his arms so that he held the cardboard boxes in a more comfortable position. Truth is, Lucy didn't have much luggage with her. From a previously famous model, he would have expected her to have a truck load of crap. But she only had one box and a suitcase worth of things, less than even what some guys had.

"Natsu-san… Is Lisanna a nice girl?" Lucy interrupted her own silence, her expression unreadable.

Without a moment's hesitation, Natsu nodded profusely, "Yeah, she's been my closest friend since we were toddlers. She's one of the nicest people you could ever meet."

"Ah…" she let out a small breath. He never even noticed, had she been holding one in the first place?

With a faraway look she responded with a wistful tone, "It's good that you have such a nice friend, Natsu-san," she gifted him with a small, yet somehow sad, smile.

Natsu's jaw literally dropped, but Lucy didn't seem to notice at all.

Maybe it was that Lucy looked so sad yet beautiful at the same time. Or maybe it was just the realization that this was the first time he had seen her smile since she arrived, but it nearly took Natsu's breath away.

It turned her from a sullen stranger to a person who you wished you knew. Or at least, that was his opinion.

"Oh, we're here," Lucy stated a-matter-of-factly. They were standing in front of room number 128, right next to his, room number 127. She took out a silver key from an envelope, stuck it into the doorknob, and turned.

He was SUPER glad that she seemed to be over the entire co-ed dorm thing, cause Lucy looked pretty disturbed by it.

_Click._

They both took a step inside and Lucy inspected the room quietly. Her quiet brown eyes looked like they were deep in thought even if she was just inspecting the room. That's when it came to his realization that he was still unable to tear his gaze away from his newly acquired friend.

Hmm… he wondered why?

Wait. Were they friends?

"Can we be friends?" he blurted out waaaay more straightforwardly than he wanted to.

You could almost hear the crickets outside the window after his question. But rather than mocking him, she had an indescribable look on her features. It was like she trying to juggle a thousand thoughts at once.

He furrowed his eyebrows, why did she look so troubled? It was just a simple question with a simple answer, right?

She turned away from his face, her voice sounding very small, "What are you talking about?" The very sight of her fingers gripping at her sides made Natsu wince. That would leave a mark.

Yet, Natsu _refused_ to be dismissed so easily, Natsu dropped her box of things on the ground with little care of what fragile objects may be inside. Lucy immediately reacted, giving him an enraged look.

"Just what are you—"

"We're friends right, Luce?" he interrupted her and simply smiled. Geez, why didn't he think of that nickname sooner?

Lucy opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. The evening sun that poured in through the windows made her hair appear golden. She used one hand and brushed a few loose strands behind her ear.

This only confused Natsu even more, why was she still so stressed out?

Her hand moved down from her face and she clutched her shoulder tightly, her bangs covering her eyes, "Can you just leave me alone, please?" her voice was almost inaudible to Natsu's ears.

From his standpoint, she looked like a scared kid. So even if she ended up hating him, he couldn't leave her alone. Not for too long at least.

But for now, it seemed that she needed some time to think. And thinking back, Luce was probably really tired by now. It was her first day transferring to Fairy Tail, after all.

So what does he do? Well naturally, Natsu took the role of the good guy and just gave his troubled friend a carefree grin. A smile is always the best way to ease the atmosphere up. He didn't want to trouble Lucy too much because he can't forget that she is going through a difficult time.

Just as he was about to leave her room, he suddenly remembered something. He turned around, cupped his hands around his mouth, and called out, "This weekend, we're going to give you a tour around town. 'Kay?"

. . . . . . . . .

* * *

_Lucy's P.O.V._

Laying on her futon, Lucy stared up toward the uneven ceiling. Her thoughts preoccupied with the weird, red-headed guy she met just minutes ago. They were in the same room, why did he have to shout like that?

By far, he is definitely the most carefree person she has met.

Lucy held up her arms and spread her fingers apart, allowing the sunlight to shine through. She squinted through her eyes and the first thing she noticed were her tightly wrapped arms.

Sighing, she felt herself admit defeat as her arms dropped down clumsily, covering her eyes. That's right, failed people like her simply weren't suited to be friends with people like Natsu-san.

It just didn't work. She would just taint him like how she tainted everyone else.

Rolling over, Lucy curled up into a tight ball, hugging her pillow tighter than ever. Why did that idiot have to ask such a question like being friends out of the blue? Didn't he see that she wanted to be alone?

Did she want to be alone?

In an instance, Lucy felt frightened. She didn't want to be selfish anymore, she didn't want to anything anymore. Everything that she had ever wanted was only empty boxes, wrapped prettily on the outside but filled with nothing on the inside.

Lucy, simply, did not want to get hurt anymore. Why did Natsu have to make her crave something she knew would hurt her?

_I need some fresh air, _she thought desperately as she clawed her way off her bed. She stumbled to the door with her unstable state of mind. It was as if she was unable to separate her emotions from one another, and it drove her to insanity.

Opening the door without a second's thought, Lucy managed to gain her balance and walk like a somewhat sane person. Luckily for her, there was no one in the hallways, so she was spared of seeing those empty, judging eyes.

Or at least she thought she was alone.

No more than a few steps later, she caught hold of a sort of conversation happening in the corridors.

"... I'm sure she's here."

_She? Wait hold on, that voice…_

"Of course she's here, she HAS to be here."

Lucy slowed down, feeling very cold all of a sudden. Those voices, there was no mistaking it. It had to be _them. _This was bad, very very bad. How did they manage to get in here in the first place? She felt her body go on autopilot as her feet began to back off from the scene she had nearly stumbled into.

The terrified blonde froze as a voice materialized from behind her.

"Lucy-san? Is that you?"

That was it for her. Lucy went into full panic mode, no doubt those two had heard her name being spoken. She whipped her head around and managed to recognize her as Natsu's childhood friend, Lisanna.

That girl couldn't have worse timing.

Lisanna looked Lucy with mildly concerned blue eyes, "What are you doing? It is way past our curfew."

A strange calm overcame her now that she knew that there was no way to escape now that Lisanna had interrupted her plan to sneak away. They'd catch up to her anyway, so why bother? Anyway, there were some things she had left to end today. This was her new start at Fairy Tail, she had to stop this craziness now.

"Lucy!" a familiar face appeared for the first time today. There was no mistaking his trademark mane-like golden hair and glasses. A second familiar face appeared behind the first, again, Lucy could never forget those soft features that vaguely reminded one of a lamb.

So Lucy just turned around and greeted the old friends that stuck with her through thick and thin, when everyone else decided to abandon her.

She tried to give them a wide, open grin like how she practiced doing in the mirror every night, but she could only manage a weak smile, "Hey… Loke. Hey Aries."

It was because they trusted her till the very end, that they had unknowingly cornered her into a dead-end.

Because they refused to stop believing in her, she had no choice but to run away.

* * *

. . . . X . . . .

_**And boy, that is my first update for this fanfic in a long time. I felt like I had a major writer's block after my mom's surgery. It was weird, it was like I suddenly didn't understand my technique anymore. I felt like my expertise in understanding and writing out all sorts of emotion were seriously lacking now that I had gone through something that could be considered traumatic by some. I think starting out with a small story like this one would be quite benefitting for me for figuring myself out. One of the main reasons why I changed my username was for this very reason actually. I was unable to get the words across on paper, so I had a lot of unspoken words held in.**_

_**But yes, I enjoyed writing this story. I am editing almost all my stories now that I think I have a better grasp over how to relate to the reader. I hope you enjoy reading and reviewing my fanfictions like the awesome readers you have always been. Until next time then!**_

_**~Unrequited-Words **_


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